American rock band YACHT has released a new single in response to the ubiquity of our countries’ government surveillance programs, specifically the National Security Administration. The catchy synth-driven single aptly titled “Party at the NSA” even features some surprise guitar work by popular podcaster Marc Maron. The song’s lyrics aren’t too shabby either: Did you read my mail […]
Is the government cracking down on internet anonymity? Thanks, in part, to Edward Snowden, we all know we’re being watched when we surf the internet. A recent incident shows that the web isn’t safe, even for those who take extra precautions. Researchers suspect that the FBI is behind software that is attacking users of Tor, the […]
Here’s an ingenious billboard intervention from the California Department of Corrections, a confusingly-named art group out of the Golden State. The piece flips the Pacific Rim tagline, “To fight monsters, we created monsters,” on its head, emblazoning each of the film’s giant robots with the names of a U.S. security agency–NSA, CIA, FBI, and ICE–and placing the […]
Last week, the NSA announced the winner of its first annual Science of Security Competition, an event designed to honor important research in cybersecurity, increase NSA collaboration with academia, and “build the science base of national security efforts.” That competition’s top honoree, Dr. Joseph Bonneau, says he wants to see the NSA “abolished” if serious reforms aren’t […]
Earlier this week, we told you about an amendment to this years defense appropriations bill that would divert any taxpayer money away from the NSA’s surveillance of American citizens. That amendment was voted on yesterday, and despite bipartisan support, failed to pass. For now, the NSA will continue to spy on you. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), […]
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on an amendment to the 2014 Defense Appropriations bill, which will determine the Pentagon’s spending next year. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), would divert taxpayer money away from NSA surveillance of and collection of data from American citizens who aren’t under investigation, a […]
Berlin police are investigating German guerilla light artist Oliver Bienkowski for projecting an image of internet activist and/or hustler Kim Dotcom and the phrase “United Stasi of America” onto the U.S. Embassy last Sunday night. According to Bienkowski, the stunt was meant as a direct criticism of the NSA and their mass surveillance of the internet. […]
Between 2005 and 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 17 million pounds of weed on the Mexico-U.S. border. Seventeen million pounds. That’s seven billion dimebags! It’s enough weed to roll a joint taller than the Washington Monument, I just learned from this nutso, meme-y look at just how much pot 17 million pounds really is, courtesy of the […]
This typeface was designed specifically to be unreadable by most automated text scanning software. The disruptive typeface ZXX takes its name directly from the Library of Congress’ listing of three-letter codes meant to specify what language a text is written in. The code “ZXX” is used to denote when there is no information that can be found from within the text. […]
On June 5, the Guardian published a report based on a leak from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, detailing how the NSA surveils U.S. phone calls, collecting and analyzing cell phone metadata from Verizon. The following day, the Washington Post revealed PRSIM, a program that allowed the NSA to monitor electronic communications like […]
